Your very best advice for a new ref

[refnrev]

My best advice, in no particular order:
1. Have fun.
2. Learn from everyone you work with.... good and bad.
3. Don't take yourself too seriously... especially when you and everyone else in the gym knows you just kicked it.
4. Develop very bad but very selective hearing.
5. Buy good shoes.
6. Ask a lot of questions when you're with good refs.
7. Say thank you when you get bad advice from bad refs and let it go.
8. Remember that it takes about 3 years to really start getting pretty good.
9. Use a FOX 40... preferablly a CMG.
10. Know the rules. All of those goofy things you know will never happen in one of your games.... they'll happen.
11. If you look and act professional, people will treat you that way, and vice versa.